FCC Rethinks Phone BanFCC Rethinks Phone Ban

That tray table will still have to go up, and your bag will still have to be stowed in the overhead bin, but maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to keep your mobile phone on and glued to your ear.

The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday it's looking into letting passengers use their phones during flights. At the same time, the commission says it's making it easier for companies to offer wireless Internet access.

The FCC and the Federal Aviation Administration for years have banned mobile-phone use in airplanes on the theory that phone signals can interfere with a plane's navigation system or disrupt mobile-phone service beneath a plane. The FAA, whose regulations trump those of the FCC in the matter, also is studying the effectiveness of the current ban. A decision by the FAA likely won't be made before 2006.

About 15 years ago, there were reports that cell phones aboard airliners were using multiple towers and eating up bandwidth, says Richard Arsenault, chief counsel of the mobility division of the FCC's wireless telecom bureau.

Besides conducting its own inquiry into its phone ban, the FCC is asking for public input on the matter. The commission seems to be leaning toward a relaxation of the rules. In a release, the commission says it sees that as a way to help public-safety officials and to increase communications options for passengers. Many planes have cell phones in some seatbacks for passenger use, but the fees generally are higher than those charged by most wireless phone packages.

The FCC didn't want to wait for the FAA's study to be completed before re-examining its own assumptions, Arsenault says. This way, both agencies could lift their bans simultaneously. He says, in fact, that there's a contingent within the industry that says today's mobile phones would create the same problem discovered 15 years ago.

Commissioners are proposing to allow the use of "off-the-shelf" phones and personal electronic devices operated on their lowest power setting. Internet access on a long flight probably would be welcomed as warmly as phone use.

The FCC is laying out new rules for auctioning a slice of the radio spectrum that would be used for wireless Internet connections. The rules will make it easier to allot spectrum licenses, which should spur greater interest in selling wireless services for use during flights, the commission says. Here, too, it looks like passengers will have to wait until about 2006 for access to cyberspace in cloudspace.